“The Listeners” poem is included in numerous schoolbooks for English Literature. Here, we provide answers to the questions found in the textbook “Lavender” for class 8 English Literature.
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Time to Answer
A. Choose the correct option.
What is the significance of the moonlit setting in the poem?
Ans. ✅ Creates a mysterious and quiet ambience
What do the actions of the Traveller’s horse and the bird contribute to the scene?
Ans. ✅ Intensify the feeling of loneliness and isolation
What emotions might the Traveller be experiencing as he repeats his question?
Ans. ✅ Impatience and desperation
In the context of the poem, what is the purpose of the ‘phantom listeners’?
Ans. ✅ They symbolise a mysterious, intangible audience listening to the traveller’s call.
B. Answer these questions.
1. See the book for the full question.
Answer:
2. What happens when the traveller knocks on the door for the first time?
Ans. Nobody answers. The place remains silent, and a bird flies out of a tower above his head.
3. Why is the knocking on the door not answered?
Ans. The house is empty of living people. Only ghostly figures, the “phantom listeners,” are present, silently listening.
4. Who do you think are the inmates of the house? Give reasons to support your answer.
Ans. The inmates seem to be ghosts. The poem describes them as “phantom listeners” who stay silent and only listen without responding.
5. What message does the traveller leave before going?
Ans. He says, “Tell them I came, and no one answered. That I kept my word.” This means he fulfilled his promise, but no one responded.
OR (Long Answer)
2. What happens when the traveller knocks on the door for the first time?
Ans. When the traveller knocks on the door for the first time, nobody answers. The place remains silent, and only his horse continues eating the grass. A bird suddenly flies out of a tower above his head, adding to the mysterious atmosphere.
3. Why is the knocking on the door not answered?
Ans. The knocking is not answered because the house is empty of living people. Instead, it is occupied by ghostly figures, the “phantom listeners,” who silently listen but do not respond to the traveller’s call.
4. Who do you think are the inmates of the house? Give reasons to support your answer.
Ans. The inmates of the house seem to be ghosts or spirits. The poem describes them as “phantom listeners” who do not speak or move. They only listen quietly in the moonlight. The traveller knocks and calls out, but no one answers, making it clear that the house is haunted by unseen beings.
5. What message does the traveller leave before going?
Ans. Before leaving, the traveller says, “Tell them I came, and no one answered. That I kept my word.” This means he had promised to come, and he fulfilled his promise, even though no one responded to him. It suggests that he had an important duty or message, but the intended receivers did not appear.
Reference to the Context
1. But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still.
a. What physical trait of the Traveller is mentioned here?
Ans. ii. grey eyes
b. What was the Traveller expecting?
Ans. iii. to hear from someone
c. Why was he ‘perplexed and still’?
Ans. i. because he was expecting an answer from the inmates of the house but despite repeated calls, there was no response
d. Select the option that correctly captures the application of the word ‘still’ as used in the given context.
Ans. ii. In the still of the night, nothing moved.
2. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry. While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, ‘Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder and lifted his head; “Tell them I came. And no one answered, That I kept my word,’ he said.
a. Who are ‘he’ and ‘they’?
Ans. iii. ‘He’ is the traveller and ‘they’ are the inmates of the house.
b. What was strange about ‘them’?
Ans. i. There was no movement and everything was still in their house.
c. Why do you think he had come there?
Ans. iv. to keep his word
d. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank.
Ans. The given context creates an eerie atmosphere with a supernatural touch.
e. Complete the sentence appropriately.
Ans. It is clear that alliteration is the poetic device used for ‘Louder and lifted his head’ because the repetition of the ‘L’ sound creates a rhythmic and dramatic effect, emphasizing the traveller’s frustration and determination.
OR (Short Answers)
- a. ii. grey eyes
b. iii. to be greeted by someone
c. i. because he was expecting an answer from the inmates of the house but despite repeated
calls, there was no response
d. iii. Keep still and stop wriggling. - a. iii. ‘He’ is the traveller and ‘they’ are the inmates of the house.
b. i. There was no movement and everything was still in their house.
c. iv. to keep his word
d. i. eerie
e. because they have same consonant sounds
Time to Think and Answer
1. How does the description of the ‘host of phantom listeners’ and the moonlit setting help you feel the mood of the poem?
Ans. The description of the ‘host of phantom listeners’ and the moonlit setting creates a mysterious and eerie mood. The silent house, the stillness of the ghosts, and the traveller’s unanswered calls build suspense, making the reader wonder about the unseen listeners. The dim moonlight adds a ghostly glow, enhancing the sense of curiosity and fear. These elements together create a haunting atmosphere, leaving the traveller and the reader unsettled and full of questions.
2. What do you think the ‘lonely Traveller’s call’ represents in the poem?
Ans. The ‘lonely Traveller’s call’ represents unfulfilled promises, unanswered questions, or a message lost in time. His repeated knocking and calls suggest he has come to deliver an important message, but no one responds. The ‘phantom listeners’ add to the eerie atmosphere, as they silently observe but do not communicate. This makes the traveller seem even more isolated, emphasizing the poem’s theme of mystery, the unknown, and a lingering sense of the supernatural.
OR (Another Set of Answers)
1. How does the description of the ‘host of phantom listeners’ and the moonlit setting help you feel the mood of the poem?
The description of the ‘host of phantom listeners’ and the moonlit setting creates a mysterious and eerie mood. The silent house, the stillness of the ghosts, and the traveller’s unanswered calls build suspense, making the reader wonder about the unseen listeners. The dim moonlight adds a ghostly glow, enhancing the sense of curiosity and fear. These elements together create a haunting atmosphere, leaving the traveller and the reader unsettled and full of questions.
2. What do you think the ‘lonely Traveller’s call’ represents in the poem?
The ‘lonely Traveller’s call’ represents unfulfilled promises, unanswered questions, or a message lost in time. His repeated knocking and calls suggest he has come to deliver an important message, but no one responds. The ‘phantom listeners’ add to the eerie atmosphere, as they silently observe but do not communicate. This makes the traveller seem even more isolated, emphasizing the poem’s theme of mystery, the unknown, and a lingering sense of the supernatural.
Time to Enjoy
1. Onomatopoeia is the use of words (such as hiss or meow) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Pick the onomatopoeic words from the poem.
Ans. The word “smote” (meaning struck or hit) in “For he suddenly smote on the door” represents the sound of knocking, making it an example of onomatopoeia.
Other examples are: knock, champed
2. Imagery helps us to create word-pictures by reading the language used by the poet or writer. For example, ‘Knocking on the moonlit door. This phrase creates an image of the Traveller standing outside a door illuminated by moonlight and knocking on it. Pick any two examples of imagery from the poem.
Ans. Examples of Imagery
“And his horse in the silence champed the grasses.” – Creates an image of the horse quietly chewing grass in the stillness.
“The forest’s ferny floor.” – Creates an image of a soft, green, plant-covered ground.
3. “The Listeners’ comprises a total of thirty-six lines but the lines are grouped together into a single stanza, making it appear quite long.
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
Ans. The poem follows an ABCB rhyme scheme, where the second and fourth lines of each set rhyme while the first and third do not.
But as a whole the poem follows the rhyme scheme – abcbdefeaghgijkjlmnmopqhnereisssuvrx.
